Irrevocably Lost In The Twilight

But vampires do not exist!

I made another wry face. "I think, in explaining this to you, I destroyed your prejudices about vampires." I chuckled. "Being a vampire means, for some of course a sanguinary existence - to feed on blood to extend life. But this really is just a simple cell mutation. As you heard, you don't become a vampire by getting bit."

"But vampires do not exist!" she said as she painfully swallowed.

"What were you thinking then?"

"Something else. Something less."

"Humanity has a tendency to deny the existence of things it does not understand." I replied.

Her forehead wrinkled and her heart was pounding. After a brief hesitation, she continued with a sigh and her brow lit up. "So you're just, what? Mutants? Going out in the sunlight?"

"Well, yes. The sun only gives us headaches or skin spots. Our bodies have become hypersensitive and the sun is a simple attack."

"Do you sleep?"

"We need less sleep than others, sometimes we do not sleep at all, since our organism has the means of rapid recovery," I murmured.

She remained silent for a while. "Not at all?"

"Rarely," I whispered. I looked dreamily in her eyes, as if I was plunged into a deep sleep, because I wanted to dream. She dreamed of me, I thought. I wanted to dream of her. She stared at me in turn. I should look away. I should not dream of her. She should not dream of me. "You want further details?" I asked. At this point, she had to realize what she was doing. I had to make her understand that this was important - more than anything else, including that I loved her.

"Like?" Her request made my voice even harder.

"You don't want know whether I eat?"

"Oh, that." She spoke in such a calm voice that I could not bear.

"Yes, that. You don't want to know more?"

At my question she moved away from me. Finally! She understood. "So…"

"So, since we are at this stage, I prefer you to know. I can eat normally, but rare meat. Today, we are able to obtain blood cloned in laboratories - whether human or animal - and hunting is no longer necessary. The war is over - at least for me - the Gulf was the last one. There are blood donation centers or blood banks, too. Since then, it depends on each of us, on our tendencies, but if we want to keep our overdeveloped capacity at a good level, we remain addicted to blood." I stared and while I was talking her face went from sullen, hopeless, to brilliant, as I approached the end of my story.

"It really has nothing to do with what I read!"

"I want to believe you. But do you think we are not dangerous?" I added, cynically.

"Not exactly," she decreed, "Only that you are not supposed to be. You're just sick!"

I stared at the trees. My thoughts were without hope. She had made up her mind! I could not believe it. "Hmm."

"So?" she asked, as calmly as if I'd just told her the weather forecast. "You no longer hunt humans? What is the story of the Gulf War?"

"Beings like me are valued for their abilities. The army is aware of our existence and often asks us to join its ranks, protecting us in return. We are faster than a normal human; we have the instincts of predators, and we hunt our prey until its death. We are able to track it before it even notices. Our reflexes, our senses are dozens of times more developed. We always know who is watching us and when, and in my case, I can decipher other people's sensations and feelings. Apparently, from the genetic mutation, one or two of our senses can be amplified and changed." She nodded slowly, lost in her thoughts. "Do not rejoice too quickly! All those who surround us are right to keep their distance. We remain a threat."

"How?"

Of course, she did not understand. How could I make her see? "We are making efforts. Ordinarily, we are very skilled in everything we do. However, sometimes we make mistakes. Like when I allowed myself to be alone with you in a confined space. Apparently, at some point, we all face a makibishi - a pitfall. We call it so," I said, smiling sadly. "It's a scent that troubles us and reduces us to our primitive state of hunters. And that's where…" Her scent was still an entire entity all around her. I had gotten used to it, I could almost ignore it, but I could not deny that my body was attracted to her.

"It's a mistake?" she asked as if she had her heart broken.

This disarmed me. She wanted to be with me. Despite what I was, she wanted it! Hope came over me again, hitting me violently. "A dreadful mistake," I told her honestly, still hoping that my true nature ceased to be significant.

She was silent for a moment. I could hear her breathing change, but it was not from fear. "Keep talking," she said suddenly, her voice cracking with grief.

I examined her carefully. She suffered. Why had I allowed this? "What do you want to know?" I asked, hoping to ease her suffering. I could not let her suffer.

"You are still a part of the army, for example."

Wasn't that obvious? Or maybe she was making fun of me too.

"I no longer wanted to be a freak," I murmured. "I decided to join the army at a time when I had no choice. If I had not done it, they would have killed me. I had to know who I was to be able to change my lifestyle."

"So? Today?"

"Today I'm recessed; I'm a part of the protection team of the French Guiana Space Center."

"They let you leave?"

"No. I'm just out." My mouth twisted when I thought of my departure from there and the mission two days ago.

"If they need you, they call you?"

"Yes, but rarely.

"And how do you feed yourself, then? Do you do it often?"

"I stopped feeding almost twenty years ago. Normal food is not enough, even if it is bloody meat and the body's cellular aging process becomes visible. However, I had to start over again."

"Because of me?" Her palm had partially concealed her mouth. I nodded without looking at her. "I'm sorry."

"This regime does not really fill our hunger - our thirst, rather - even if it gives us the strength to resist. We're all addicted. Nevertheless, sometimes it is hard." I was ashamed of the danger that she was putting herself in for my sake. A danger that I continued to accept.

"Is it very difficult for you right now?"

Of course! She always asked the very questions I did not want to answer! "It's bearable."

This time, the reaction that I was expecting was good. Her breathing stopped and her heart was won. I did not understand her. How could she not be frightened more than that?

"You're not completely dependent on that, right?"

She was good! As usual. "You are very observant, huh?" I laughed again. She smiled slightly, the wrinkle between her eyebrows reappeared as if she were focusing hard.

"You can do it here, in Paris?" she asked when I got serious. Her way of speaking, which was so relaxed, fascinated me as much as it frustrated me. Could she truly accept all this without blinking? I was more shocked than she was..

"Yes." Then, as I was about to end discussion on the topic, I felt the urge to let her know: "I have addresses - if necessary."

"And now, is it necessary?"

"Not right now. I have other things on my mind." I took a deep breath, and then I looked at her. This kind of honesty was much harder. "I'm anxious," I thought that word would be sufficient, and yet it was not strong enough, "when I'm away from you. I've followed you almost every day, so I was worried."